Brigadier General Groves was at first opposed to the test firing. He was afraid that the huge explosion would jeopardize the secrecy of the bomb and use up scarce plutonium. Oppenheimer finally persuaded him that a test was necessary. The test site, the army’s Alamogordo bombing range in New Mexico, was selected for its desolate isolation. It was miles from any town, thus minimizing the danger that radioactive fallout would reach civilian areas. Oppenheimer code-named the site "Trinity" after a line from a poem by John Dunne. He stipulated that a tower be erected to cradle the plutonium bomb. After months of construction, the area designated as ground zero was complete. The desert floor was strewn with miles of wires that ran from the tower to the command center ten thousand yards away. These controlled the detonation of the bomb...